Encore
by Reyser
Summary: L/Z — She's always mine, but never. But I vow that someday – sometime – some lifetime, we will get our happy ending, because we always meet again. — Zelink through the lifetimes, Link's point-of-view. One-shot.


**More angst-mixed-general romance. This is written in a broken, weird style where the sentences are rather disconnected. It's kind of vague and doesn't **_**quite **_**make sense, but I still think it's decent. **

**Link's point-of-view. **

**Contains SPOILERS for: minor spoilers for ALTTP manga, TP, OoT, WW. **

**I'm pretty sure this idea's been used **_**tons **_**of times, but I can't help but use it again. It's cheesy and clichéd, **_**but..**_**.**

**..Ehe. Zelink, obviously. **

**Just a notice for followers: ****If any of you have followed my work, or more importantly, **_**My World**_**, I'd like to let you know that chapter one revised is POSTED! It'd be too much to PM you all and notices on my profile don't always go noticed...**

* * *

She's running.

I don't know why, but she's running and I'm chasing her. Her hair is golden lightning behind her and her dress, white in its Goddess glory trails like a peacock's feathers. Her eyes, bluer than usual, smile at me.

I smile back and chase after her. She's the Goddess, after all, and the harp is tucked underneath her arm.

I want it to work. But I know it can't—she's a Goddess, she's Zelda, I'm her chosen hero. The stars streak across the sky like tiny, twinkling lights.

We're still running and then suddenly, _finally _–

I'm lying, I don't know why. I'm in her arms, lying there, helplessly weak. Pain explodes within and I'm staring down at multiple gashes. It's _his _fault.

She's crying. I never wanted her to.

"Don't cry," I tell her, but it doesn't stop her. Her hands press against my wounds but it doesn't stop the crimson. It ruins her dress, the Goddess-purity. "Stop—"I begin to say, but the words are caught in my throat and I cough.

She's blurring, ever so, I don't quite see her and the stars are fading against the black –

She's sobbing, she's saying something. I can't hear what.

"My fault," she's saying, and I'm laughing though it hurts to do so, shaking my head at her even though the gashes tear ever part of me. I can still feel the blade – the knife – _his _knife and I know I've failed.

"Not yours," I tell her, and my heart, no longer beating rapidly, seems to slow. "Mine."

The pain is duller now, I can't even feel it. The last thing I want to remember is her smile, the faded purity, and the stars still set against the blue -

She notices this and her blue eyes go wide and even though she's the Goddess who's chosen me, I still see her as that elusive girl that I love and –

"We'll meet again," she promises, though the tears are still wet on her cheeks and I'm wondering why everything went by so fast –

* * *

She keeps her promise. We met again.

I had her but not quite and it all started over. She was the Goddess again but not quite – the girl I'd known for two lifetimes – with ribbons and pink dresses and smiles.

This time, I'll be her Hero. I won't fail this time, I won't fall behind. Her eyes are blue – as blue as I remember.

I had her but not quite. I smiled at her when I first met her, told her that we did meet again. But her eyes, still blue, lost their spark and she looked at me dully saying, have we met before?

She didn't remember. I did. But I kept my promise as did she, and as long as I had her, it didn't matter.

I remember flying, the feeling of being there but not quite, her smiles, her words, and then suddenly she was gone, whirling towards the ground and I couldn't quite save her –

She's gone. I promise, I scream, I swear that I'll save her.

It's a lie.

The next time I see her, it's too late—clichéd promises that I'd betrayed—and it's the first of many shattered promises. I swear to her, to what remains, _never again. _

She's lying there, like a broken doll. I make the mistake of running, hoping, dreaming, wishing that I'm not too late –

But I am.

And it's my fault as much as it is his, brutal murder -

She's staring, up, up, up, with those endless eyes, and I choke back bile as I pull her up and cradle her in my lap like she did lifetimes ago.

I press my palm to her cheek—it's cold like porcelain that he's broken once again. It's the first time I've failed her and I swear it'll be the last.

She's staring. But not at me, at the sky, where she's gone and it'll start all over again.

I don't even have more tears to shed, because I know we'll meet again, but still, I know, the agony of failure will follow me.

We'll start over, I know we will, again and again, twisting, twisting, never ending. I know I can do nothing, anyway.

So I leave her limp body there along with my heart and walk away, empty, after staring back at her.

Her eyes, dead and blue, still stare up, waiting for a hero that will never come.

* * *

We meet again—again—again.

This time, I don't see her and I panic. Have I failed so soon?—this I wonder. The apples remind me of her sent, of her Goddess-childhood-friend beauty and I think it's a curse and a blessing all at once to start over.

I nearly give up, but I'm still chasing her through the lifetimes and then – then – _finally _– I hear her voice.

It's soft and lyrical like I remember, and if I listen hard enough, I can see the eyes, blue, blue, _blue. _

"Please," she's saying, begging—no, pleading, "do you hear me?"

It nearly breaks my heart to think that she doubts me even though I still run through the lifetimes searching for _her. _

I swallow and answer her voice settling in my mind because I know it's her.

"Yes," I tell her, and then we meet.

I find her in a castle prison, still the beautiful Zelda I know with golden hair cascading down her back and the knowing blue eyes.

I kneel before her, because she's mine again and I can't bear to think of the fact that I'll fail again.

She smiles—a smile that tears me apart because I know she doesn't, can't, _won't _remember the lifetimes but I will and it's a promise that I fully intend to keep.

"Zelda," I breathe, and reach out to stroke her cheek. It doesn't feel like porcelain and I know I have another _chance – _

"I'm not alone anymore," she says, and I stare into her eyes, the blue I've always known, the blue I always chase.

"No," I tell her, and then I make another promise: "Never."

I keep my promise.

After _he _comes and vows to repeat our past, our repetitive tragedies, I manage to beat him this time.

And this time, I truly have her.

She's smiling – laughing, and I know she loves me this time, but she doesn't remember, not the lifetimes we've lived.

But it's enough to know she's here, in my arms, safe after the lies and broken promises –

But even so, the repetition goes on. She is still a Princess. I am still a lowly Hero and it seems that's all I'll ever be.

Even so, I stay by her side, laughing, protecting, keeping my promises because I don't want to let go and start anew –

But we do anyway, and when we're finally both old, her eyes close and she smiles at me with the fading blue eyes. I refuse to cry because I know -

* * *

We meet again. Always. Always the hero, always the princess, and I'm always chasing the blue, a haunting memory of what happened and what won't happen again.

This time, she's still a princess, but she's regal and open all at once. Her hair is still that shining gold I remember and the blue is always there.

This time I'm a man with memories of lifetimes and she doesn't know a thing. But I'm always there, always protecting her, always bound together by that little string called –

- fate.

She asks me a favor this time, one that I willingly accept. I'm her hero. I always am.

"Hero of Time," she tells me with those blue eyes, "we need your assistance. " She never needs to ask because she knows the answer.

And so it begins.

Although we start anew, _he _follows us through lifetimes, always bent on repeating our past. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I don't. But I'm always there – watching, saving.

At the end of it, she's standing there with the golden hair I remember so much and the blue eyes that still hold the soul of a Goddess. I reach out, take her hand, and smile at her.

I still have the memories of lifetimes within me and they're exploding and I finally have her – _I love you _–

But she takes the ocarina and her lip trembles and she's crying again like that first time. I hold her, finally, it's been too long since I could –

But her duty comes first – always – always...

"I have to send you back," she says, and she's still crying through she's trying to bravely smile through the tears.

Though it pains me as much as it pains her, the memories – I – know that we will always meet again. There are words she's spoken but never said in the back of my mind and I know –

_I love you, _she says, and I know she does.

I nod, silently, and when she does send me back, I'm there, at her door, the hero and the Princess again.

She's always mine but not quite because despite what I do, we're still only the Hero and the Princess.

* * *

When we meet, I'm not her proud hero, I'm a beast, on the floor. She's cloaked in a black robe as she stares out at an empty world. When she hears me, she turns, my lovely princess-Goddess. Her hair isn't the gold I remember - it's auburn, hanging down her back in intricate strands.

But the eyes are still blue.

"He's not what I expected," the shadowy creature on my back shrugs and laughs impishly. "But he'll do."

My heart is pounding – rapidly – because my feral instincts threaten to take over but I say _no – _

She leans down and smiles at me, my princess, always, always, _always. _She's calming with her blue eyes and gentle smiles and still, the memories think of her, still my Goddess, still waiting.

But it's a burden – only I carry them and she doesn't when she smiles at me it's like that first time where –

"Hero of Twilight," she says, and smiles. The shadow creatures laughs: a laugh I grow accustomed to.

When I'm a human – returned to my green garb – she aids me and wields the golden bow I know she's skilled at. The Light pulses from her, and instinctively, I nearly reach for her hand.

"Lend me your power," she says, and I laugh, because it's not the first time she's asked when she hasn't needed to.

The end comes—_he, _fails, but he swears not to next time. I swear he will and it's over, I can finally have her at last –

But the shadowy creature, the girl I've grown to hold close to my heart, stands before us with her flaming hair and crimson eyes and she smiles, too. My heart lurches.

My princess is there for me when the shadowy beauty breaks the mirror, she's there for me when I feel like letting out anguished cries: _why? _

And I'm there for her when she's forced into marriage, but we both know that's not who she's chosen.

Even though I chase – even though I run through the lifetimes after the endless blue – we are still slaves to fate.

So when I hold her tight, I whisper into her hair, the line that's kept me going all this time:

"We will meet again."

She's always mine but at the same time, never.

* * *

She's a pirate-beauty-wonder-girl-Goddess.

This time, she's roughened by sea water and toughened by storms, and she's colder than I remember – but the eyes are still blue.

And I still love her, with the burden of a thousand lifetimes.

When she becomes a Princess again – I know, I always know.

But even she can't evade _him. _

We meet again: him, her, I, monster, hero, princess-Goddess. She dreams: she dreams of oceans and water and the endless blue, the color of her eyes.

She dreams of staring anew – with me – and so I make it so that her dream _does _come true.

When I finally – vanquish _him _, we start the new land. We dance above the waves, we start over – over, _over. _

But even though I want to, even though I long to, the burden, the curse, the repetition still holds me tight. I still belong to fate as much as I belong to her.

So when we do start the new land, I have to leave her, but I don't worry, and I don't look back even though it pains me because –

* * *

We meet again – always, always, always.

I still hold the memories of that first time in the sky and I remember her Goddesss-princess beauty and how, _how _I always chase her.

She's always mine but at the same time never. I'm always her hero but she's never quite my princess. I always run: sometimes I catch her, sometimes I don't, sometimes she fades in my arms.

She's always smiling with those blue, _blue _eyes, and I'm always remembering the times – the lifetimes – the burdens, the curses, the promises, and fate.

Even though I try – we can never be together. She's always the princess. I'm always the hero. And try as I might, none of us can evade fate.

But I vow that someday – sometime – some lifetime, we will get our happy ending, because we always meet again.

* * *

**- FIN –**

* * *

**Reviews are like gold!**


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